Hours after a man and woman were fatally shot in the parking lot of Arundel Mills mall in Hanover, the suspected assailant was killed Saturday morning in Prince George’s County in an exchange of gunfire that also left one Prince George’s police officer wounded, authorities said.
James Edward Coleman, 22, of District Heights was shot by police after officers from Prince George’s and Anne Arundel counties arrived at the single-family home he shared with his parents on Rydal Road, police said.
Officers asked Coleman to come out of the house, said Cpl. Henry Tippett, a Prince George’s police spokesman. But Coleman refused for at least two hours, Tippett said.
When Coleman finally walked out of the house at about 10 a.m., he was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle and a pistol, said Julie Parker, a Prince George’s police spokeswoman. Coleman opened fire and shot one officer in his face, hand and leg before being killed by return fire, Parker said.
The officer, an 11-year veteran of the force whose identity was not released, was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Parker said.
Investigators identified Coleman as the Arundel Mills shooter and said they believed that Coleman knew the victims.
Anne Arundel police identified the victims of the Friday night shootings as Chonsay Laquez Green, 30, of Capitol Heights, and Jeneen Desiree Dunn, 25, of Greenbelt.
Parker said that Coleman had an “extensive” criminal history.
Early Saturday afternoon, Coleman’s body remained at the end of the driveway, and the street was blocked by yellow police tape. Coleman’s aunt, Lawan Coleman, tried to approach the house but was turned away by police.
In tears, she said her nephew had an infant daughter and was enrolled in school.
“He was trying to get his life together,” she said.
A man who identified himself as a neighbor said Saturday that he heard Coleman yell that he “wasn’t going back to jail” as he walked out of the house.
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